(1) Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to guidance systems and processes, and more particularly, to a process for generating fly-around boundaries relative landmasses for projectiles such as missiles.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Automated flight missiles such as the Tomahawk missile typically include guidance systems which are preprogrammed for guiding the missile to its destination. In order to avoid radar, defenses and to maintain rules of engagement, the missiles are programmed to fly at a standoff distance from the coastline of landmasses. With currently available technology, operators of the missiles or guidance systems work to manually calculate and plot fly-around boundary distances from selective landmasses in order to identify missile waypoint positions. This process is time consuming and results in over-estimated fly-around boundary distances which increase the length of the flight path, thus reducing the missile's capability.
The prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,150,295 directed to a computerized system for joining individual maps into a single map product. It discloses an improved process for making a larger map from individual 7.5 digital line graph (DLG) data. The process is fully automated and performed by computer with minimal human interaction, eliminating errors and producing a more accurate final map product. The process includes conversion of the raw DLG data files into ARC/INFO format, locating the border arcs of each individual data set, edgematching the individual map data sets, and joining the data sets into a single, large map coverage. Any node along the border arc which cannot automatically be edgematched is noted in a special error file. A geographer then matches the unmatched edges which contain an error in the input data. A large map product is provided as the product of the process. However, nothing is disclosed in this patent related to the automated production of fly-around boundaries relative landmasses.
There exists a need for a process for automatically computing fly-around boundaries relative to any form of landmass based on cartographic data inputted into the process.